


please don't leave like all the others

by OswinWatson



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Angst, Cecil misses his scientist boyfriend, Gen, Homecoming, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4516224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OswinWatson/pseuds/OswinWatson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Cecil gets the feeling that the reason Carlos won't leave the desert otherworld is because he finds it more interesting than Cecil could ever be. For some reason this makes Cecil feel quite alone in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	please don't leave like all the others

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cynical_taire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynical_taire/gifts).



> I wrote this because I was super angry at Carlos for a long time, because despite the fact that I love him, he was hurting my baby Cecil by refusing to even try to come home and that is not acceptable. I'm posting it now because I'm still feeling some residual anger despite recent events... so enjoy!

Cecil stands in the middle of his bedroom. It is silent.

The clock on the wall does not tick, the secret police in his bushes do not whisper, the melons on the counter do not growl. It as if for a small moment he is so very deeply and truly alone.

But then the moment does not pass, and he is forced to realize that he really _is_ so very deeply and truly alone. And maybe he'd like to think that Carlos is out there, searching for a way home. That Carlos is out there counting the seconds from when they last saw each other, counting until they see each other again, but for all he loves his Carlos, and for all Carlos loves him, he knows this is not the case.

Maybe he'd like to pretend as he talks to his mother during homecoming a single night out of each year, that she didn't leave him behind. He wants to believe that when she stares at him with strained eyes it's because she misses him, and not because he was the reason she had to leave in the first place.

Maybe when he talks to his friend Earl from so long ago, the one who's a sous chef at Tourniquet, he wants to think that they can still have what they had. He wants Earl to make him feel less alone. But then Earl asks him what year they graduated, talks about his new life, his family, and Cecil has no response. This man isn't the child he knew. He isn't so sure he remembers the child he knew anymore.

Khoshekh floats in the same spot everyday. He's been sick ever since Carlos left. Cecil tries to feed him oranges, but he's just silent and unmoving and eventually Cecil walks away with a simple pat on his head. He knows Khoshekh misses Carlos too, and maybe that makes it worse. Khoshekh was a friend, he was good company, but now he's just an empty relic for the men's restroom at the studio. And so now his wonderful levitating cat has left him too.

He continues to pretend the Erikas don't exist, because he has too, and as much as Dana is one of his best friends, every time he tries to talk to her, she's always far too busy being mayor and such.

So at the end of all his thinking, he's just as alone as he started. If anything, the thoughts just solidified the abstract idea of all consuming loneliness into something far more tangible.

He curses all telepathic interference and all 208 of the old gods he can name. Then he hastily apologized to them because he really didn't need their wrath right then.

Cecil takes a deep breath and sighs. He runs his hands over the side of the bed where Carlos slept. He lets his fingers dance along the dozen pristine lab coats hanging in the closest. He wanders through Carlos’ things, in all their inexplicable neatness. In the end, he finds himself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, letting the sadness wash over him and began counting the seconds until he will see Carlos again.


End file.
